14. The land Tenure and agrarian system in the new cocoa frontier of Ghana: Wassa Akropong case study

(introductory text...)

Introduction

Evolution of the customary tenure system

The migrant farmer and land access

Size of holdings

Resources

Land use

Farmers perception of tenure problems

Conclusion

References

Farmers perception of tenure problems

In an attempt to get the farmers themselves to identify the tenure issues in
the area, they were asked to express their views on the advantages and
disadvantages of the present tenure systems. Their views are summarized below.

Even though it is quite easy for a migrant farmer to purchase land, the
attendant litigation makes such land acquisition undesirable. Many farmers thus
prefer tenancy arrangements to outright purchase.

On the other hand, whereas the farmer who cultivates land which he has
purchased is free to use his land in any manner he likes, the farmer under share
cropping is not so free and invariably ends up with a permanent cash crop farm,
say cocoa, and no land for food crop cultivation.

Although the presence of the subchiefs makes land administration and
acquisition quite easy, the great degree of freedom within which they operate
and the arbitrariness of some of their decisions serve to defeat the very
purpose they are supposed to serve, and in effect they constitute a hindrance to
agricultural production and cause land litigation.

Finally, the absence of permanent markers, such as boundary pillars, gives
rise to
litigation.